Laughing in 1979
by amerikanka
Summary: Marlene McKinnon is confident and self-assured. Regulus Black is not. It's an unlikely relationship that he reflects on as he watches her die.


It's 1979 and Regulus watching her die. She's still beautiful even as blood pours from her body, and her laugh still chimes like bells as she dodges curse after curse. "Is that the best you've got, baby-killers?" She asks, casting a dangerous-looking bolt of silver light back at one of his fellows. Her family, a few cousins and maybe an aunt and uncle (she tried to tell him about her family, but the McKinnon clan was too large to keep track of, even for someone who had been trained from birth to recite his family tree), and possibly some in-laws lay around her. Some are probably dead and others are probably unconscious, but Death Eaters fight to kill, and it's down to Marlene now.

He knows she's dying—he's known it since he could hear her behind them. He could always pick her out in a crowd, not that it was hard. She was the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts, with long, curly bond hair and a face built for laughing. He used to run his fingers through her curls when they had snuck out to see each other late at night, meeting in the most secluded area of the school that they could find.

He closes his eyes and it's 1972. He's in first year and she's in third. He heard about the conversation that took place before she kissed him afterwards.

"_I dare you to kiss Sirius Black!" One of the Gryffindor girls said over breakfast. Marlene tossed her hair back over her shoulder with a smug grin._

"_I've already kissed him."_

"_Then I dare you to kiss his little brother!" A chorus of gasps echoed around the section of the table as Marlene stood, self-assured as only a person who's had everything in her childhood could be._

"_Fine," she said, walking over—sauntering over, really, because she was too confident to merely walk among other mortals—to the Slytherin table and standing in front of Regulus. He remembers that posture still; she had her hip out to the side, one hand on it, while the other gripped his face and brought it towards her own. It was his first kiss, and it tasted of cream and strawberries, what she'd been having for breakfast._

_There was a shocked silence in the Hall as Marlene strode, catlike and sexy, back across the way to her table, where she swung her legs over the bench like she hadn't just committed taboo. She helped herself to more strawberries with a satisfied smile on her face._

Regulus opens his eyes again and it's 1979. She's still dancing the curse fandango, and it's the most alive he's ever seen her. She's always been full of fire, and he remembers how her eyes looked after he finished kissing her, giving her every bit of skill that he could dredge up. She was way too good for him and he knew it, but sometimes he let himself think that she didn't.

He looks away as a curse brushes against her sleeve, her wild laugh filling the air, and it's 1975. She's an O.W.L. student who is bound to pass because she's just that brilliant, and he's a third year who can't believe his luck as she presses him up against a wall and snogs the brains out of him.

_Her face was flushed as she pulled back, a smile on her face that looks like it belongs on a wildcat. He was stunned speechless—while his blood might have been pure, he was not a desirable friend. His brother ruined everything. Since he was not an acceptable friend, there was no way he was preferable enough to get a girlfriend. Consequently, the only girl who had ever kissed him had just done it again, and he was standing there like a lump._

_That pure blood was racing in his veins, fueling a pounding heart. She stared at him, looking up about an inch. That was better than the last time that this had happened, when he was shorter than her. Not that he'd been paying attention at the time, but he'd thought about it often afterwards._

"_Wha..." he managed to stutter unintelligibly._

_Her wildcat smile broadened. "This is the part where you tell me if that's all right for me to do."_

"_Uh, yeah."_

"_Good." She leaned in and kissed him again, mouth moving expertly against his. He'd tried to kiss her back and had been insanely grateful when she hadn't laughed at him._

_All that year, they find places to hide and kiss. He tried not to be jealous when she got a boyfriend and stopped seeing him, but he also tried to hide his joy when she came back after they split up. She teaches him about kissing and what girls like, and he's always there for her when she needs the kind of comfort he can give._

He looks back and it's 1979 again. Her hair has been burned and she seems more wild-eyed than before, but Regulus got so used to seeing that look on her it's almost reassuring. Almost. She takes out another man in a mask and hood with a complex twist of her wand.

"Is that the best you all have got?" She crows, jabbing her wand at another mask. They engage and Regulus just can't bring himself to fight her. He has a clear shot, but whenever he looks at her...

It's 1977 and she's easily the most gorgeous girl in school. She's on the Quidditch team and has the body to prove it. It's her seventh year. Regulus is on the Quidditch team too, but he's Seeker and not muscly like the Beaters.

_She's one of three Chasers and he could swear that she's teasing him. She's flown over him more than once when she could have flown another direction, and once she tossed the Quaffle right over his head and flew under him, catching it as it fell in an arc. But every time he thinks he's caught her eyes, she's gone again._

_He's a good Seeker but he's got no chance against the Gryffindor team. They trained through the summer and they've got the most experience. Three on the team are seventh years—James Potter, Emmeline Vance and Marlene. Marlene headed up their Chasers and she did it well, acting the part of second-in-command to Potter. Vance was practically raised by Benjamin Fenwick who could have played for England if he'd wanted, so the rumors go, and he taught her everything he knew about being a successful Beater. She'd clearly taken the lessons to heart._

_Then, of course, there was Potter. Because of blood-status, Regulus was bound to hate him. Because he took away Regulus's big brother, the younger Black loathed him. But there was no denying that he had Regulus far outclassed in Seeking._

_Later, after the Slytherin captain had shouted at his team for being too slow and playing horribly, Marlene found him. Her eyes were sparkly with a hint of alcohol and it wasn't not long before she was pressed against him._

_He was less responsive than usual and she noticed it. "What's got you all shy tonight?"_

"_I'm not in the mood," he said, turning away from her slightly._

_She put a hand on her hip and frowned at him. "You're never not in the mood for snogging."_

"_If you want to kiss, go ask my brother," Regulus growled. "He's supposed to be good at it."_

"_Hey," she said. "Look at me." When he didn't, she knelt down in front of him and forced him to meet her eyes. "Listen up. I've kissed your brother, and he's good at it. The rumors are true. But, see, here's the thing." She paused and then kissed him deeply, evoking a response he didn't want (but really he did) from him and he kissed her back._

_After they broke apart she finished her sentence in a ragged voice, that I-got-you-Regulus-Black smile on her face. "Here's the thing. I think you're better at snogging than he is. And I like kissing you a hell of a lot better than I do him. So stop arguing and stop sulking, and kiss me like that again."_

It's 1979 and he's got a small smile on his face that vanishes as he sees her immobilized by a Death Eater. There's only one other left out of the bunch there had been, and if he wasn't supposed to be loyal he would have been impressed. She is a fierce one, his Marlene... after all, in his mind she is still his Marlene.

"Going to kill me?" She manages through the spell.

"Yes," the man gloats, and Regulus suddenly realized his ally has forgotten that he is there. Marlene never saw him, that he was aware of. He assumes that he would know if she'd seen him. He hopes he would know. "You're a pretty one, girl, and powerful. The Dark lord could always use someone like you."

Regulus knows the answer before she says it. "Like hell, murderer."

"Shame." He raises his wand to destroy her, destroy everything about her that Regulus still loves and then the man is on the ground in chains, bound and gagged. Regulus looks down to his outstretched hand and is somewhat shocked to see it, his wand clearly the one that took down the man he was supposed to side with.

But Marlene's looking at him and there's no time for questions of loyalty. He removes the immobility charm and she picks up her wand from where it has fallen. She moves around him warily, like he's a half-tamed wolf that is unpredictable. She darts glances at him as she goes to her relatives and starts to assess the damage on those still alive.

He's not expecting anything and so he turns to go.

"Regulus," her voice stops him in his tracks. There's a brief pause and then she says, "Thank you."

He nods in acceptance, still not looking at her. He's walking away when she breaks his heart.

"I wish it could have been different."

He almost halts, he almost snaps and turns and runs to her, he almost gives in to his urge to kiss her, but he holds back. It's the most difficult things he's ever done. He doesn't say anything, knowing that that will crack them both.

They belong in different worlds, and they never see each other again. But it's 1979 and he's dying of thirst by the lake of the dead, and the last thing he hears is her laugh.

* * *

Written for JacksonFrost's Failed Relationship Challenge.


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